Why do I need a Scrum Master anyway?

Even as Scrum is increasingly adopted in a widening range of contexts, many business and technical leaders question the value of a Scrum Master. We believe that part of the reason for this is because this role has been often misunderstood by those who function in it. Sometime in the recent years, the focus of the Scrum Master role has changed from that of a leader (albeit a "servant leader") to a detached focus on story points and team dynamics, with little attention to the business outcomes that the team's work is meant to bring about.

As the role has been relegated to that of a “ship’s counselor” for the team, many business leaders are questioning the budget allocation toward the role as it has become less obvious how Scrum Masters contribute to achieving business objectives. Many organizations, therefore, attempt to do Scrum with either just a pro forma Scrum Master (e.g., the former team lead) or skip on this role altogether. Needless to say, both of the approaches prove problematic.

The goal of this session is to explore the current state of the Scrum Master in the enterprise and propose a refined definition of the role, detailing the competence areas key to the effectiveness of the role and describe precisely how Scrum Masters directly impact achieving business outcomes as an expert role that no team, and no business, can do without.

Outline/structure of the Session

Welcome and introductions

What was the Scrum Master supposed to be?

What do businesses need from the Scrum Master?

The most common types of Scrum Masters seen in the field today

Why the Scrum Master role is seen as being so ineffective that it’s not required or requiring so little specialized knowledge and skill that any layperson can do it, and how this perspective can damage your business

Learning Outcome

Attendees will leave the session with an enhanced understanding of the following:

Current state of the Scrum Master role in the enterprise and why it is currently limited in its effectiveness

The core competence areas in which expertise is critical to effectiveness

How do to tell if a Scrum Master is being effective achieving the objectives of the business

How to identify members of your organization who are well suited to be a Scrum Master

How to help the Scrum Masters you have, achieve effectiveness

Target Audience

The target audience for this session is comprised of the key stakeholders in the discussion on the value of the Scrum Master role: executive business and technical leaders/decision makers, Scrum Masters and Agile coaches.

Prerequisite

It would be helpful for participants to have had exposure to Scrum in an enterprise environment, but it is not a requirement in order to be able to obtain value from the session.

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